


An Espresso of Feelings

by AuroraKant



Series: Dick&DamiWeek [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: "He's my son!", Adoption, Dick Grayson is Damian Wayne's Parent, Fluff, Gen, POV Outsider, Shopping For Birthday Gifts, Slice of Life, The Best Cafe/Bookstore You've Ever Heard About, Worried Dad!Dick, outsider pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:49:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29927472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraKant/pseuds/AuroraKant
Summary: When Matina opened her little bookshop/café four years ago, she expected a lot of things. She expected the bitchy soccer moms and the overly tired college students. She expected the arrogant businessmen who didn’t realize that the café portion of the store was the side business.  She expected the annoying complaints of customers who didn’t know what they wanted.Who was she hadn't expected, however, were Damian and Dick.Matina had the feeling, nobody ever truly expected them.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne
Series: Dick&DamiWeek [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2198859
Comments: 24
Kudos: 162
Collections: DickAndDamiWeek2021





	An Espresso of Feelings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DawnsEternalLight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnsEternalLight/gifts).



> Hello to another day in Fluff-Town!  
> (you probably shouldn't feel too comfortable)   
> A THOUSAND thanks to starsonthewall for beta-reading this story for me! <3  
> And I hope you get to enjoy my first attempt at Outsider POV!!!! 
> 
> (and Dawns.... you know why this fic is for you :D )

When Matina opened her little bookshop/café four years ago, she expected a lot of things. She expected the bitchy soccer moms and the overly tired college students. She expected the arrogant businessmen who didn’t realize that the café portion of the store was the side business. She expected the annoying complaints of customers who didn’t know what they wanted. 

What  _ was _ unexpected, however, where the regulars.

So many years behind the counter and between shelves had given her quite a few of them, and she loved every single one of them. There was Old Man Jenkins, (his real name was Gerry) who entered the café every Wednesday morning at 9 o’clock sharp. He always ordered a black coffee and a blueberry muffin before sorting through the new books Matina liked to showcase between the café tables. When she or Cassie, her trusted barista, brought him his coffee, Old Man Jenkins always told them a story about his dog. It was never the same story twice.

It was something Matina looked forward to every week, and so she made sure to wake up early enough to open the store on Wednesdays.

There was Martha and her wife Jenny who dropped by whenever they could manage.. With a new baby at home life had gotten a little more stressful for the couple, so Matina made sure to keep the oat milk she knew Martha preferred in stock so that her cappuccino tasted just the way she liked it. The extra effort was worth the gratitude in Martha’s blinding smile and tired eyes. It felt like an accomplishment to make the young mom feel better, and wasn’t that the reason why Matina had opened her store at all?

It was a safe place for everyone. Young and old. Gay and straight. Hungry or tired. Happy or sad.

Almost everyone in Blüdhaven knew about the Ruthless Reindeer, and it wasn’t unusual for a new customer to step through the door, and bask in the aroma of freshly roasted coffee while scanning the shelves filled with colorful book covers, and walk up to Matina with cheerful greetings and the glowing recommendations of their friends. 

Another of Matina’s regulars,Peter, was a lawyer, and was largely responsible for keeping her store alive.. A few years ago, one of Blüdhaven’s corrupt politicians had taken issue with Matina’s combination of bookstore and food place. Already a fairly frequent visitor at the time, Peter had stayed late at the cafe one evening to work on one of his cases when he’d noticed her crying. A few questions later, Peter had offered his help, and after a few court hearings, saved her store. For that, he would never have to pay Matina for coffee or hot chocolate ever again.

Her absolute favorite regular, however, was a little boy - Damian. Admittedly, Damian was probably almost a teenager by now, but Matina would always see him as a little kid no matter how much time went by. (With a cute button nose like the one Damian sported, who could really fault her?)

The boy had stalked into her store a year ago, with a hoodie pulled over his head and a frown on his face, searching for books on animal care. Matina had helped him, of course, and when he came back a week later with a list of books that he’d looked up, Matina made sure to order them for him. It had taken months before she ever learned his name.

Matina still remembered that day as if it had been yesterday, the memory of the heavy rain strong enough to make her shiver even now, months and months later in the middle of summer. Damian had stormed into her store, anger in his gait, water pouring down his wet sweater. He’d looked more like a drenched cat than a boy, and when Matina had offered to help him dry off… he’d actually accepted.

Damian had always been polite, but in a very stand-offish way that reminded Matina terribly or her argumentative niece. But that day… Damian had looked sad, and at the same time furious. Matina had offered him some tea and a towel to warm him up, and in a surprising display of vulnerability, the boy had accepted them. And while they waited for Damian’s clothes to dry and the rain to ease up – the store had been rather empty that day due to the weather – they started to talk.

Although Damian had only told her a little about himself, Matina had still learned a lot about her enigmatic young companion that day, among them his name, and that he was living with his older brother. Apparently, the two of them had had a big fight, explaining Damian’s mood and the lack of weather-appropriate clothing. Apparently, Damian had stormed out of the house before he could grab a coat or an umbrella. Matina remembered feeling weirdly touched… she hadn’t thought Damian would consider her café as a sanctuary.

He left shortly after the storm cleared up, and Matina hadn’t seen him for weeks.

Until months later, when Damian had walked back through her door, ordered green tea, and asked if she still had that book about crocodiles that interested him so much as if nothing had happened. Of course she did.

Nowadays, Damian came to visit her every few weeks, whenever he’d read through his latest haul of animal books and added more to his never-ending list for her to order. Matina had long ago stopped in her attempts to make Damian read age-appropriate animal books, and at this point she regularly ordered veterinarian academic journals for him.

She had never, however, seen his older brother.

Sometimes she worried about it late at night, alone in her studio apartment above the store. Damian always came alone, without any companions or guardians. He rarely, if ever, talked about his family, and if Matina thought about  _ that _ … really, all she knew about Damian’s family was that he had an older brother. That was not a lot of information, it was barely anything at all considering how long she’d known him. The boy was eleven at most, and yet he wandered through Blüdhaven alone as if he had never known fear. And yet… the hunched shoulders and the guarded look in his eyes, told Matina that Damian was familiar with fear and danger.

But for all her worrying, it never really led anywhere… and why should it? Damian was clearly well-off, if the quality of his clothes or his ability to pay for his many, many books were any indication. And Matina had her store, and her lovely customers, and she had Cassie, who made the best latte macchiato on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Matina would be there for her regulars in the only way she knew how: by smiling and laughing and ensuring that they had a great time as long as they stayed at the Ruthless Reindeer. Everything on the other side of her entrance door was no longer in her power.

Most of the time Matina was okay with that.

But then the routine changed.

It was just another Wednesday - or at least it was supposed to be. Old Man Jenkins had just left her store, and Matina’s stomach was still tight from laughing so hard at his dog’s latest antics when the door opened once more. The warm sound of the bell chiming echoed through the room, and Matina smiled when she looked up from the counter to greet her latest customer.

He was a young man, probably ten to fifteen years her junior. Matina guessed he was around twenty-five, maybe a bit older. He looked… stunning, for lack of a better word. A broad- if slightly nervous- smile adorned plush lips, midnight black windswept locks reminded her of harlequin novels. There was a mole right under his left eye, and his eyes… oh, his eyes… Matina had never seen eyes as strikingly blue as his.

She was _ definitely _ smiling when she greeted him.

“Hi, welcome to the Ruthless Reindeer. I’m Matina, the owner of this store. I don’t think we’ve met before, so if you have any questions feel free to ask me.”

It was more or less her standard greeting, but Matina wouldn’t deny that she had tried her best to make it sound smooth. Typically, she wasn’t interested in her customers, (not in that way at least) but a pretty face was a pretty face. Besides, being polite and charming had never hurt anyone.

“Um, hi. I’m Dick, short for Richard. I… I actually do need your help.” Richard, no, Dick sounded nervous when he spoke, and Matina couldn’t help herself, it sounded adorable. Men like Dick usually weren’t that cute or self-conscious.

“Oh?” – Matina stepped out from behind the counter – “Book or coffee help?”

“Books. Definitely books. I don’t think he likes coffee. No, I know he doesn’t like coffee. He tells me so every morning.”

“Oh, a present then? For a boyfriend?” Matina asked, joining Dick near the political book section. She gestured subtly at the giant rainbow flag decorating the wall behind the coffee machines, just to ensure he knew she wasn’t judging.

However, Dick didn’t react like she had expected him to. No, instead of blushing he chuckled, something intense in his eyes when he answered.

“No. Definitely not a boyfriend. No. He’s my… he’s my son. I need a birthday present for my son.”

Dick didn’t sound as if he believed the words himself, but Matina wasn’t here to pry. Her job was to make sure everyone left her store with a smile on their face, food in their stomachs, and a new book under their arm.

“Oh! That’s nice! I didn’t mean to assume… anyway, how old is your kid? And what does he like? I’m sure we can find something.”

“He’s turning twelve next week.”

Matina glanced at Dick and now… yeah, now she could see it. There was a proud glint to his eyes that Matina had come to associate with loving parents and doting grandparents. Dick might not be that settled into the role of a father yet, but Matina could already see how devoted he was to the kid.

“Almost puberty, I see. And what interests him? Cars? Dancing? Architecture?”

Over the years Matina had learned that nothing was as diverse as the interests of children. Matina had sold books about the larvae state of butterflies to little girls in princess dresses, and she once gave a small boy a book about pregnancies after he demanded to know more again and again. Little kids were fountains of curiosity and they would absorb all kinds of information in their search for answers.

Now she was wondering what interested Dick’s kid enough to send the young man seeking out her store.

“Animals. But not… the cute kind. Last week he was adamant that spiders make the best pets and the week before that he tried to convince me that the pros of a crocodile in our apartment far outweigh the financial and ecological drawbacks.

“So, yeah… any ideas?” There was that nervous chuckle again. But Matina couldn’t focus on that, too preoccupied by her whirling thoughts. Crocodiles and dangerous animals. Older brothers and tentative, nervous young dads. She…

Her voice was no longer her calm, professional customer service voice or her charming, flirty voice when she turned towards Dick and said:

“Your kid… his name wouldn’t be Damian by any chance, would it?”

Dick took a surprised step back, his eyes suddenly alight with something dangerous, almost intimidating. But as Matina scanned his face and body for any other clue or tell as to what she could expect from Damian’s “older brother”, she could see no giveaways for violence or aggression. Other than his eyes, Dick was relaxed, his body language open and inviting.

Matina took a careful step back.

“Yeah. How do you know that?”

“He comes here every few weeks, ordering animal books. One of his latest obsessions were books about crocodiles,” Matina said truthfully.. She didn’t think lying wouldn’t do her any good, not with how weirdly Dick behaved. It wasn’t that Matina wasn scared, she didn’t think the man would hurt her, but something was just off… and in a city like Bludhaven, Matina had learned long ago, to trust her gut-feeling.

“Oh… So this is where he goes...”

“You didn’t know?”

Maybe there’d been little  _ too  _ much judgement in her voice – and didn’t that just oppose everything Matina typically stood for – but Dick seemed rightfully chastised.

“I work full-time,” Dick explained almost pleadingly, as if he felt he had to explain himself to her. “I usually tell Damian to go straight home after school but apparently… he hasn’t been listening to me, which.... doesn’t really surprise me, since rules are still something we’re working on. Not that I should be telling you all this, you’re a total stranger, who doesn’t need to-“

And the rambling was back. Dick fascinated Matina - and it had little to do with his objective beauty, and a whole lot with his erratic behavior. Calm and battle-ready one moment, and a nervous mess the next. Interesting.

Matina spoke again before Dick could dig his own grave further.

“No, don’t worry about that,” she smiled kindly. “I seem to have that effect on people; I can ask two questions, and suddenly I know their life story. Which, by the way, I’m sorry about I was just a little curious, since Damian hadn’t really mentioned you before. But I can be curious in the animal section as well! I’m sure we can find something Damian hasn’t read yet.”

Dick laughed as he followed her, his hand combing through his tangled locks. An obvious nervous tick, if Matina ever saw one. She pushed forward before he collected himself. It was an evil tactic her mom had taught her:

“I don't mean to pry- and you really don’t have to answer- but Damian only ever told me that he lived with his older brother.” 

For a moment Dick stopped breathing, and then he relaxed, something vulnerable in the twist of his shoulders. He wouldn’t look her in the eyes, but Matina couldn’t fault him for that. She’d always been a pushover, after all.

And yet, to her surprise, he answered.

“The adoption went through two weeks ago. I… I’ve been taking care of him since our dad died, but…”

Another tragic story, like this city thrived on them.

Matina didn’t allow herself to be self-conscious when she put her hand on Dick’s arm, smiling sympathetically at him when he met her eyes. 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed, you don’t have to explain anything else. We’re going to make sure Damian gets the best birthday present ever.”

Dick shook his head. 

“It’s not that… just… me calling him my son a few minutes ago? That’s the first time I did that. I’ve- I’ve been thinking of him that way now for months – years, even! – and yet… that was the first time I said it out loud. Dami’s always been my kid. My little brother. My Baby Bat. But… never… never my son.”

Dick looked awfully lost for a grown man with a twelve-year old kid to take care of, and Matina wanted nothing more than to hug him and tell him everything would be alright. But she couldn’t do it - for multiple reasons. For one, this was still a professional setting despite all the boundaries she’d probably crossed earlier, and he was still her customer. And for another… Matina didn’t like making promises she couldn’t keep.

But that didn’t mean she had to keep her words to herself in the same way she tried to keep her hands to herself.

“I am sure he’ll be happy to hear it, if you tell him.”

Dick chuckled dryly. 

“How can you be so sure? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Damian can be kinda hard to read when it comes to his emotions.”

Matina smiled fondly. “That kid’s been coming here for a year now, and he only ever talked about one person with any kind of emotion: his big brother, whom he lived with. His big brother, whom he fought with, and shared everything with, and who shared everything with... That boy loves you, Dick. And there are few things I am as sure of as the fact that Damian would love nothing more than being called your son.”

Tears were glistening in Dick’s eyes, but Matina kindly ignored them. It wasn’t her place to make Dick even more uncomfortable than she already had. Instead, she turned around and focused on the animal books in front of her, searching for something she knew would suit Damian’s tastes.

When Dick spoke again, his voice was rough and painful, but his words were soft:

“Thank you… I… I think I needed to hear that.”

Matina smiled her private smile. Giving a piece of herself to the community was all she ever wanted.

“Then I’m glad I could say them to you. Now, where is it… ah! Here!”

Matina pulled a heavy book from the shelf. It was an anatomic encyclopedia of the Animals of the Great Planes from 1923. It was a reprint, of course, but Matina had the feeling Damian would love it either way. She turned around to face Dick again, the book in her hands. His face was free of any stress, the tears miraculously vanished and his boyish smile back.

“Here! I’ve seen Damian stare at it longingly a few times, but the price was always a little above what he could afford with what he had. If it's still too expensive… I am sure we can find a way to work around that…”

Dick took the book from her hands, rough fingers brushing over her skin. She had expected… soft, young, smooth skin, but Dick’s hands were… for a lack of a better word… ugly. Rough. Callused. Scarred.

Another interesting little tidbit of information Matina would never think about again, (except maybe late at night when the stories of her regulars haunted her.)

“No. No, it's fine. The book is perfect. I can… yeah, I can see Damian’s face, when he unwraps this… yeah. Thank you.”

It was an honest thank you, Dick’s smile warm and grateful and wide. He had a nice smile, that much would always be true.

“It was a pleasure. If you would follow me to the counter? I can wrap it up if you want. We have dog-printed wrapping paper.”

Dick followed her back to the counter, his steps easier now that he’d found a gift. His answer surprised her, maybe because she had grown used to the other dads who’d passed through her store, who loved and cared a little less.

“No. But... thank you… I want to write a personal message into the book first. Maybe get our sister Cass and Steph to do the same. Just… you know.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Annotations in books were signs of love after all. Hidden messages and open secrets. Matina thought of the copy of Wuthering Heights under her mattress, filled with her grandmother’s scrawled notes and comments, every single one of them a testament of love.

She rang him up, and when he left her store with a grin and a wave, Matina could only hope that he would become one of her regulars as well.

Three weeks later, Damian and Dick entered her store together, ordering green tea and black coffee respectively before sitting down. Matina didn’t miss the look of pride dancing over Damian’s face, when Dick said “and a blueberry muffin for my son to go, please”. Neither did she miss the blush crawling up Dick’s cheeks as he registered his own words.

They were happy.

That was all Matina could ask for. 

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback keeps me young and healthy! 😉


End file.
